I wonder how many people who heard this Gospel passage proclaimed in church today, AND like the pharisees criticized by Jesus in the Gospel,

“did not realize what he was trying to tell them.”

In a sense it is even more difficult for us living in this modern world “to realize what he was trying to tell” us!

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The pharisees had less reason to be excused since they lived in a pastoral world in which flocks of sheep were a big part of the economy of the time.

Modern man, on the other hand has little or not experience with sheep.

But I cannot use that as an excuse for not understanding the message of Jesus Christ.

When I was a boy I asked my father for a lamb as a pet and he gave me a lamb.

I grew up caring for that lamb and when I entered Rice University I gave it to a family willing to give it a good home.

When I was a bishop and Chairman of the NCCB ad hoc Committee on Migration and Refugees I received an appeal from Basque sheepherders and their families who were brought to America by the sheep

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industry in the western states to take care of the immense flocks of sheep in those states. The sheep associations however were not concerned with the spiritual welfare of the Basque people in the U.S.

I negotiated with the bishops of southern France and northern Spain to lend priests to our western dioceses to provide spiritual care for the Basque people. Sad to say, some of the western bishops would not help.

Years later, while vacationing in Colorado, flyfishing on the Cimarron River in the San Juan mountains, I was camped by a mountain trail. Basque shepherds came walking up the trail followed by 5,000 yes you heard correctly, 5,000 sheep on their way to the pastures higher up on the mountain. Many of the sheep were limping

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on legs injured on rocks and in gopher holes.

After I retired I used my experience as President of the Kennedy Foundation by running my own little ranch near Mathis/Tynan where I ran 100 head of cattle and 100 head of sheep. I learned that Our Lord spoke of sheep so often because of the needs of sheep (the animal) and sheep (the people of God in the Church); they have a lot in common.

But, of course, Jesus was not literally referring to those who accept his Gospel message and submit in faith to his call to become united with him. He was speaking metaphorically.

What is the definition of a metaphor? A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a

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word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

To understand any metaphor you must understand both word or phrase and the object or action to which it is applied.

Let’s examine the metaphors Jesus used in the first part of today’s Gospel:

Jesus said:

“Amen, amen, I say to you,

whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate

but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.

But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,

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as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has driven out all his own,

he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,

because they recognize his voice.

But they will not follow a stranger;

they will run away from him,

because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”

Unlike the sheep on my ranch which were all keep at night in my own pens, in the time of Jesus in Israel each village had a communal pen and all the sheep of all the different villagers were kept overnight in the same pen for safekeeping from predators.

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Each morning a shepherd would approach the pen and the villager guarding the sheep would open the gate and the shepherd would call his sheep and only his sheep would leave the pen and follow him.

Now for the metaphor.

Jesus is saying that those persons who have accepted his call and been baptized hear his call enunciated through his Church to come out into the world and put their faith in practice, listening to his voice echoing in their minds after having been exposed to his Gospel through hearing, reading, reflecting aided by the magisterium of the Church.

In todays world there are a lot of false shepherds and false prophets even as there were in Jesus’ time; many more.

His flock had to contend with the false teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees.

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Jesus’ flock today have to contend with the call to schism and heresy issued by bishops and priests who echo the call men like Cardinal Kasper.

Be on your guard!!!

Listen for the voice of Jesus in the teaching and preaching of orthodox and conservative priests and bishops who

faithfully echo the call of Jesus. The call of Jesus was expressed to countless generations of Catholics through such magisterial documents as the

Catechism of the Catholic Church

If you do not own a personal copy, buy one and use it frequently; it is almost a bible since it is filled with holy scripture citations for every thing it says about the faith and living the faith in a secular world that i

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increasingly hostile to God and to Christians.

Almighty God,

Eternal Father,

have pity on the sheep of your flock.

They live in a world now

dominated by electronic media which is being used to broadcast the deafening call of false shepherds to follow the way of relativism and proportionalism.

Give them the help of the Holy Spirit to hear the voice of their true Shepherd,

Jesus Christ

calling them to remain steadfast in orthodoxy.

This we ask through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who lives and reigns in unity with You and the Holy Spirit,

> abyssum posted: ” HOMILY FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER CYCLE A Bishop > Rene Henry Gracida Reading 1 ACTS 2:14A, 36-41 Then Peter stood up with the > Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed: “Let the whole house of Israel > know for certain that God has made both Lord and Ch” >